There's so many kind of buildings, I notice, as I stare out of the Jeep Wrangler that has no doors. The seatbelt I'm wearing is the only thing preventing me from flying out the vehicle. Noah's one heck of a driver.
Old buildings, new ones, crumbling row houses and refurbished homes. Tall office buildings and squat store fronts all fills the scenery.
The trees takes over this time, tall and stately, lining both sides of the road, so that it seems we are driving through a park, rather than the middle of a crowded city.
"It's so beautiful," I murmur. "So ethereal, so magnificent, so..."
"It's just trees, Allie. Get over it."
Kill joy.
We pass gracious old homes, brick and granite, then another strips of shops, smart and trendy. Noah circles around, then pulls into a narrow lot that fronts several upscale shops.
He climbs out of the Jeep on his own and begins to walk into one of the shops. Noah stops on his tracks to look back at me still struggling to get out of the Jeep.
"I can't get out. My dress must be stuck somewhere," I croak out, already getting frustrated and sweaty.
He slowly cocks his head to the side and examines me like I'm some sort of lab rat, before walking back to where I am. My eyes narrow on instinct, wondering what he's about to do next as he leans in towards me.
For some reason I'm out of breath, and I'm also super aware of how askew my jacket already is, thereby showcasing too much skin of my upper body. Craning my head back to meet his eyes, I'm awestricken by the color. They're so hypnotizing blue, and from this close I can see clearly the little ring of grey I remember from before. For some seconds, it's like everything stops moving and living, except the little maniac in my chest that won't stop wanting to slam it's way out.
His eyes flit across my face.
And then he unbuckles my seatbelt, holding it up to my gaze. "Did you just try to get out of a vehicle with your seatbelt on?"
The heat drains out of my cheeks instantly.
"You are so weird. And dumb. Yeah, I'll go with dumb."
I push him out of my way, half embarrassed, half flushed, and half need to get out of here ASAP.
What the hell is wrong with me?
I'm inside the shop before him as my eyes find where the beverage section is, dragging along a cart with me. There's so many different types of drinks all arranged on the shelfs. Non-alcoholic, alcoholic, and then there's the wine cellar. I reach for a wine when Noah catches my hand midway.
"No wine."
"Juice, then?"
"What are you? Five?" He rolls his eyes and takes a dozen of liquor and beer, putting it into the cart as I'm returning everything back to the shelf. He shoots me a scowl.
"That's a lot. They're going to get too drunk with all of those."
"Isn't that the point?"
I shake my head disapprovingly. "Oh Noah, Noah, Noah. There's still so much you need to learn."
"You sound like my mom."
"Aww, that's sweet."
"I hate her."
"Oh." I watch him stuff back the liquor into the basket. "Is the Kingston's, like, an all boys school?"
"That's so obvious. Why do you think I can't tolerate females?"
"You tolerate me."
"Hardly."
"Is that why you never denied the rumors?" I dare ask. "Because you're... what they say."
Noah dumps the drinks into cart with a force that I feel he got mad by my question. "You want to know the truth? Fine. I suck dicks."
My eyes widen. "YOU DO?"
"Nah, I just wanted to see that reaction." He brings out his phone and takes a picture of my shocked face. "There we go."
I hear him chuckle as he rolls the cart forward, and something swells up in my chest.
Happiness.
Why am I happy? I have no idea either.
"Let's play a game." I catch up with him in the Fruits section of the shop.
"No."
"Word association. You empty your mind, and I'll say a word. Whatever pops into your head first, you say it."
"I'm not doing that."
I stroke my chin and think of a random word. "Winter."
"Christmas." He rolls his eyes when I smirk.
"Basketball."
"Satisfaction."
"City."
"Crowded."
I pick up an apple and sniff it. "Fruits."
"Healthy."
"Love."
"Friends."
"Allie."
"Stubborn."
He's the one to smirk this time, making me scoff. "I'm not stubborn."
"Whatever. Blondie over there has been staring at you for a while. Why don't you go say hi and stop bothering me." I look in the direction he points and I notice a guy occasionally looking up from his phone at me.
"Yeah, no."
"Oh I forgot, you're miss goody-goody two shoes."
There he goes again!
"You know what? Screw you. I'm going over there to get his number."
He cocks a brow. "You're still standing here."
I drag open the zip to my purse and bring out a mouth spray, my face turning sour when I taste the stinging liquid in my mouth.
"That's perfume, isn't it?"
"Shut up." I counter back, doing a hair flip before turning to where blondie is. He looks paranoid, like he can't believe I'm staring at him as he fumbles awkwardly with his phone, trying to avoid eye contact.
"Hey." He stares up at me with wide eyes, almost not believing I'm talking to him. "I think you're good looking."
"Merry Christmas."
I. Can't. Believe. He. Just. Said. That.
I sigh. "Just give me your phone. My name's... Are you pinching yourself?"
"A girl's talking to me. I have to make sure this isn't a dream."
"Nice." My voice drags out as I type out my number into his phone. "So this isn't a dream alright. My name is Allison, and I'll be expecting a call from you."
I attempt to throw him a flirty wink and I'm sure that didn't go well, but I doubt he cares about it anyway.
"Done and dusted." I proudly announce when I walk back to Noah who's having a hard time pushing the heavily loaded cart probably because of the overload, and the fact that one of the wheels is missing.
"You need help?"
"Sure."
"Great. The cashier's over there."
"Thank you for your overwhelming assistance," He sounds happy. His face says otherwise.
The cashier, a small old lady whose hair already began turning grey, stands behind the cash register with a small eyeglass sitting atop her long nose. Lydia is the name crested on her name tag.
"I think we forgot the tequila," I tell Noah as I offload the drinks from the cart.
"I'm tired. Let's just get this over with."
The old lady tsks at him, having this judgmental stare directed at Noah. "You're too young to be tired."
"Alright Lydia. You're too old to be alive, but here we are."
She gasps, her mouth slightly hanging open. Lydia should have seen that one coming. Old people can't just seem to mind their business.
I step forward and muster up a smile. "He doesn't really mean that."
"I do."
Slamming a wad of cash on the desk, he picks up the drinks we paid for that's now packaged in polytene bags and exits the store. I follow behind.
"That wasn't necessary."
"I was not wrong. She probably can't fart without extreme lower back pain. Get in the Jeep, it's getting late."
Noah's arm muscles flexes as he carries the things to the trunk of the Jeep.
What am I going to do with that boy?
I have to shovel my hair out of my face, which ticks me off. I badly need a haircut. When it gets in my way again, I ignore it, as I ignore the sweat, the heat, the buzz of traffic, the loud horning from angry drivers.
"I can't wait to hang out." Someone steps in beside me and I look up to see blondie from earlier with a huge grin plastered on his face.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot.
"Do not call that number. I will watch the phone ring," I tell him as a matter of fact, then smile sweetly like we just agreed to go on a romantic dinner date.
We finally drive out of the lovely neighborhood. I'd been prepared to ask why he spoke about his mom that way, but I didn't ask. I simply have just run down. Whatever energy that pushed me into going out in the sun, seeking the markets and managing to get what we wanted have drained out, leaving me listless. Fragile too.
I don't know when I doze off but I feel large arms roughly shaking me awake. "WAKE UP!"
My eyes tear open. "Couldn't you be more subtle about that? Geez."
Noah cuts off the engine. "What were you expecting? A true love's first kiss?"
The sun has fully gone down, leaving everywhere dimly lit. A fire crackles from afar as fogs of light smoke continues to fill the night air. Looks like they started without us.
Someone plays a ukulele among them, the pleasant sound bringing a smile to my face.
I have a feeling this is going to be one of my favorite nights this summer.
"What are you doing? Are you just going to stand there and smile?"
Maybe not.
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